Swales was a ****, he was more than out of his depth, and if he’d cared one jot about the club and the fans he’d have fucked off years earlier than he did. A contemptible arrogant foolSwales was totally out of his depth but same can be said about a lot of chairmen back then.
They operated more out of luck than judgement. We shouldn’t compare chairman back then to the modern day chairman.
My opinion was he genuinely wanted city to be successful.
Allison was a very strong character. He had some great ideas but his application was poor. He blinded Swales by science and Swales backed a bad horse.
Allison did the equivalent of selling De Bruyne and Bernardo for peanuts and brining in unknowns unproven for high transfer fees.
Swales fell for his patter and backed him.
I liked Allison as did a lot of city fans at the time but he has to take the majority of the blame in my opinion.
Yes Swales was well out of his depth but he just wanted to see city winning just like all of us.
I remember Swales saying that he wanted to do 20 years as chairman. That’s says all you need to know; it was all about Peter fucking Swales.Agreed but he didn't cling on like Swales did. Swales was keeping us small time when the money started rolling into football. City was more to Swales that it was to Lee. It game him everything. He would have clung on forever just to keep his place at the FA. Lee pretty much walked away when he knew the game was up.
Don't know what Franny's role was in getting us the new stadium but without it we definitely wouldn't be where we are today.
Speaking to an individual who worked for Swales in the 50/60's. They advise me that -
- on a Monday when City had lost Swales would come into his shop laughing and joking and generally taking the piss out of the City fans
- he didn't hide the fact that he supported Manchester United
As Johny Rotten used to say....." Ever get the feeling you've been cheated "
Thanks very much for that, it plays in my head like a 4 part ITV crime farce drama.I know some of this story. He and Noel White originally got involved in Altrincham, thanks to a young Ally fan called Brian Lomax. Brian went on to become the first person to set up a Supporters Trust, which he did at Northampton. I was working in Northampton in 2006, when we were looking to do the same at City so he was the obvious person to start asking for advice.
So I rang him and explained who I was and what we were trying to do and he said "You'll probably put the phone down on me but I have to own up to being the person who got Peter Swales into football." He told me that he was a very enthusiastic Atrincham fan, going home and away. Eventually, the club took him on the team coach to away games and he got to know the club officials quite well.
They hit financial difficulties and he carried out a one-man campaign to drum up financial support in the town for their local club. He visited Swales & White, who'd sold the business to Thorn EMI so had a few quid in their pockets. They heard him out and agreed to get involved in financing the club and helping run it. That's where they got the taste for running a football club and set their sights a bit higher.
In the early Seventies, when there was a boardroom battle at City between 'young' Albert Alexander and Joe Smith, who Frank Johnson sold his shares to. The new faction was being encouraged by Malcolm Allison apparently, which ultimately led to the Mercer/Allison split. Swales claimed he went into a pub in Hale Barns and saw Sidney Rose & John Humphreys discussion the situation. In his version of the story, he went over to them and offered to intervene, without any real idea of how he could do that.
I spoke to Sidney Rose about that and he dismissed Swales' version as a complete fiction. He couldn't remember the exact sequence of events but said it definitely wasn't the way Sales told it and he thought the board agreed to contact Swales as a mediator. Swales commenced discussions with both parties and they eventually reached a concordat. As a reward, Swales was made a director. Once in, with just a few shares, she consolidated his position and acquired a majority shareholding, along with his allies.
Sidney confirmed something I'd long suspected, which is that you couldn't really believe a word Swales said. Everything was twisted to make him look better. I doubt he was genuinely a City fan. Alistair Mackintosh, the CEO before Garry Cook and now at Fulham, was another like that.
He could quite plausibly have not been a blue but still wanted to out do The Shite.No chance did swales support United he was a blue through and through that was his problem he was always trying to catch United it became an obsession that's why he failed
From this 1981 Granada TV documentary for anyone who hasn’t seen it
The late great Bob GreavesNot seen that for a few years. Who was the narrator, sounded familiar but couldn’t place?
Thank you @petrusha for your kind words and yes I post what I hear, not for sensationalism or clicks but to pass on anything I hear to fellow City fans. What this person told me this weekend totally stacks up. The role that this person had in the Swales shops at the time totally stacks up as do the sequence of events. Am doing an article for Noels fanzine (Helmet rides again) on Swales and I put the word out I was looking for any information. Then this person contacts me with their story. Why would they decide to do that. I believe them, I really do. My thoughts -He always claimed to be a City fan, but I never remember hearing him speak about following the club as a youngster in the way that I or most people on here do from time to time. Be that as it may, though @kismet is a poster I've always had a lot of respect for and trust to post in good faith.
But even if Swales had been the most avid boyhood City fan imaginable, he nailed his colours firmly to the mast when he was chairman. In the way he ran the club, what mattered to him was the self-interest of Peter Swales, first, last and everywhere between.
Saleumstash you are spot on there mate.........He could quite plausibly have not been a blue but still wanted to out do The Shite.
He was an egomaniac.
My target is 94. It resonates with City, as in 1894. And by that time I think I will have clawed back all the superann they screwed off me!Dave Ewing
Reading your posts I’m not sure you are going to make it to 100 and receive the monarchs best wishes! :)